Last ten games Blazers have ranked 13th in Drtg. Not great, but a hell of a lot better than last in the league. And the eye test agrees. Teams are having to fight for open shots, finally! On top of that, Blazers have had a pretty tough schedule during this stretch. With one of the most high powered offenses, the now improved D is exactly what the Blazers need to peak going into the post season. Nurk is certainly a huge part, but the D is well beyond that. Even Dame and CJ seem committed. Surprisingly DJJ has barley played during this stretch, and I thought he was one of the better defenders on the team. Just great to see some prolonged effort. https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-team-defensive-rating-ranking-last-10-games
Lillard discussed this in his post game interview. Because Nurkic covers well and is mobile they can do a bunch more on the perimeter and it adds a number of different looks. The stunts and the traps are easier because they can go all in on them. They have more confidence to take chances. This is exactly why the Lakers when healthy are so tough on defense. Davis is mobile and can cover when a player takes a chance. Those chances are leading to tipped balls and steals not to mention just plain old turnovers due to clock and bad passes. Roco is having a field day as well as Powell.
having a healthy Nurk and a solid defensive backup big next season is vital. That and a better defensive minded coach so they don't use injuries as a crutch.
roco pretty much abolished the theory that terry stotts is at guilt for the defensive struggles, says it absolutely isnt his fault or that criticism isnt warranted
I wouldn’t say we play one of the toughest schedule since so many stars sat out against us during this stretch. Lebron, Kd, harden, Mitchell, sabonis, Myles Turner, walker, and Conley. The only impressive wins have been the Grizzlies and the Celtics.
Excited about the improvement in defense - the next coach will really have something to work with....
It was one of Roco's last post game interviews....he said Stotts is absolutely not to blame for the defense...other players have said this as well.....he said Nurk and Powell learning to play together was a game changer..and that defensive woes early in the season had different personnel on the court than we have now. If Stotts wanted better defensive ranking he wouldn't play 3rd stringers with a 15 point lead at the end of games....he'll sacrifice the final score spread to develop rookies..
They set out against other teams as well, its not like they sit players only when we play them. The playing court for the year is pretty level.
Stotts should not be on the hot seat. Perhaps Olshey should but Stotts has coached over-achieving teams year after year. He has kept Lillard bought in, as well as the rest of the team. He has coached the best offense in the NBA and bought time while Nurk, CJ and Collins have had major injuries. And now, when everyone but ZC is healthy, that same high powered offense is becoming a formidable defense.
This argument has no bearing. All coaches play their 3rd stringers when warranted. Stotts doesn't do it any more/less than other coaches to make it a significant factor.
I think it's way-too-soon to assume the defense of the last 10 games means the days of bad defense are behind Portland the thing is, at the all-star break Portland had a defensive rating of 116.4. So then, 35 games later the defense has moved from 116.4 to only 115.9. That's only a 0.5 point improvement over half the season. Portland will finish with the 29th ranked defense that is a full point worse than last season's defensive disaster. It will very likely end up as the 3rd worst defense in NBA history. the last 10 games do not erase the first 60 games; and it doesn't alter accountability for those 60 games
Thanks for the link. RoCo isn't going to throw the coaches under the bus in that situation. He had no other realistic diplomatic way to answer the question. I personally wouldn't put much weight into that interview.
I'm not making an argument but you don't need to value my statement....your post however is arguing my point....Stotts develops his bench more than many coaches do and over recent seasons has had to search for replacement starters constantly with injuries, trades, etc.....you're welcome to think it's the same everywhere but we disagree about that...Stotts is known for developing bench players
What bench players has he developed? Crabby? Connoughton? Layman though he was putrid for months in between games. When has he developed a bench player to become a 6th man type of player? I'd argue it's tough to be a bench player for stotts because he gives you no margin for error unless he has no choice. See, any rookie contract bench player. We have had God awful benches for many years. The only bench guys we have that do any good are ones we get in trades (hood comes to mind... but he had to become a starter which he is not).
Yeah, because Robert Covington would definitely throw Terry under the bus... I can't believe people actually read into that.
Sure... Just because you THINK he does and it matches your opinion, doesn't mean it's reality. Let's look at some data from this season. Here are the top 9 teams in the western conference. I pulled the total minutes played for each player & removed the top 8 players from each team (starters and key rotational guys). Looking at total minutes played by 'end of the bench' players (man #9 - man#18), Portland ranks 7th out of the 9 teams. Meaning Portland plays their key rotational guys MORE than most other teams do. That's not 'developing the bench'... Even when we look at man#10-man#18, Portland still ranks 7th out of the 9 teams.
Most of the the teams you picked have lost fewer games than we have....I was referencing blowouts which sure...we haven't had much of this season. We have been blown out a couple of times but your list is a list of teams that have for the most part...really good records......we lost a stretch of games by a point or two and played our starters big minutes trying to win... ......we've also had substantial roster change so Trent was a starter.Kanter too..Jones Jr.Hoodie was a starter....Melo has been a starter....but it's all good...a list of 9 teams from 30 ...no bottom feeders really on the list. Over Stotts tenure he's never been a coach to run the score up with a big lead.
